17.05.2023Why does the University of Zurich teach and conduct research on the topic of sport?

Sport is an important economic and social issue worldwide, moving people not only during major mega-events around the Football World Cup or the International Olympic Games. Even before the global pandemic of 2020, sport accounted for about 1-2% of the world's GDP. The global entertainment and media industry is estimated to be worth over USD 2,000 billion. The sports industry (excl. sportswear) is estimated to be worth over USD 200 billion.

The topic of sport not only fascinates fans at the pub and in the stadiums. Sport generates an immense amount of attention that also appeals to many people outside the playing field and significantly influences and shapes our society and culture. It is therefore not surprising that in an increasingly complex world, sport is also attracting an increasing intellectual movement: In addition to cultural producers (film and music) and the media, who have been actively promoting this attention for decades, researchers in mathematics, physics and statistics are dealing with complex analyses in major sports such as baseball, basketball, ice hockey and football.

Economists are fascinated by the specifics of sport and analyse, for example, distribution mechanisms of different competition formats and their influence on the different players (leagues, clubs, athletes, fans). Business economists deal with strategic and operational management challenges that can be derived from the special market composition and regulatory measures in (professional) sport: Revenue offsets, transfer restrictions, salary caps, or cartels in North American leagues.

The power relations around sport and the different political and cultural anchoring of sport in society are of interest to scholars from management, sociology, political science and history. Development economists are interested in migration flows of international athletes and thus try to better understand the global and national labour market. Behavioural scientists observe individual and group behaviour using sports data from professional sports and thus draw conclusions for our society.

At the University of Zurich, the topic of sport has been intensively researched and taught for over 20 years. Among other things, with the Research Centre in Sports Administration (www.crsa.uzh.ch) or continuing education at the executive education level (www.sportsmanagement.uzh.ch).

Interdisciplinary research focuses on a sound understanding of sport. To this end, researchers draw on theories and methods from economics, behavioural and social sciences. The special features of sport and the composition of the industry raise exciting questions that are analysed from different perspectives. The focus is on economic, media, behavioural and legal research questions. On the other hand, important insights are also gained from sport to better understand social science phenomena in society. Here, sport is used as a laboratory for social science research to better understand human behaviour and interactions in society.

In a global and digitally networked world, it is imperative that these topics are also considered and discussed globally. This is the only way to understand the effects of larger movements and decisions on a national or regional level. The decisions of larger federations, sports clubs and stakeholders have long had an impact on national and regional sport.

Accordingly, there is a high demand for qualified staff and executives to solve complex management problems in international and national sports federations, sports clubs, in the management of athletes, in technology and media companies and in sports-related organisations.

The extra-occupational further education courses of the Executive Education of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Zurich in the field of sport start exactly here. Various courses are offered that address current challenges in the areas of management, economics, technology and analytics and provide in-depth knowledge to professionals and leaders from a wide range of fields. Participants acquire skills that they can apply effectively and efficiently in their professional environment - in international sports organisations, professional sports clubs, sports and media marketing agencies, and sports-related industries.

This is precisely where the Executive Education's part-time continuing education courses at the University of Zurich's Faculty of Economics in the field of sport come in. Various courses are offered that address current challenges in the areas of management, economics, technology and analytics and provide in-depth knowledge to professionals and leaders from a wide range of fields. Participants acquire skills that they can apply effectively and efficiently in their professional environment - in international sports organisations, professional sports clubs, sports and media marketing agencies, and sports-related industries.

Our lecturers teach and research in the fields of business and economics, sociology, finance, marketing, law, communication, mathematics, psychology or history. Furthermore, experts from industry are invited. In recent years, we have had the pleasure of inviting Christian Mueller, Ralph Straus, Nicolas Evans, David Dellea, Sven Schaefer, Carsten Koerl, Wolfgang Elsaesser, Pedro Fernandes Mestriner, Claude Ruibal, Urs Lehmann and many other guests.

In detail, our next courses will focus on the topics Sports Analytics with Ulrik Brandes (ETHZ), Sports Management and Sports Economics with Helmut Dietl (UZH) and Raphael Flepp (UZH) , Digital Sports Marketing with Andrea Giuffredi-Kähr (UZH), Accounting & Finance in Sports with David Oesch (UZH), [Leadership in Sports](https://www. sportsmanagement.uzh.ch/en/module/leadership.html) with Jochen Menges (UZH) and Nicolas Bastardoz, Entertainment Management with Leif Brandes, Sports Law with Ulrich Haas, the emergence of the modern sports industry with Christian Koller or Sports Industry Insights with guest lecturers from the industry (e.g. Ralph Straus). We are also planning a study trip on the topic of innovation.